Around this time last year, I was wandering around the streets of Oxford with dried porridge glued to my face. It was all in aid of roleplaying as a hideously deformed vampire, as part of a test of the new fifth edition of Vampire the Masquerade. And although I never get to play Vampire as much as I would like, I've now had enough of this new edition to formulate an opinion on it.
The fifth edition is new player friendly. Character creation is streamlined, and the powers and background information is paired down. So whilst veteran Vampire fans may find this a bit restrictive, having a fraction of the options to pick from, it stops the game becoming overwhelming for new people. This game is over twenty years old, invented within that brief window of time when wrap-around shades and leather trenchcoats were cool. If this game wants to stay cool with the new kids, it needs these updates, just as much as it needs the rule refurbishments to stay accessible. For the most part, I think it manages that balance between satisfying old and new players, though I find the individual clans a tad too simplified to the point that they've lost their individuality; the snake themed vampires now share powers with the wolf themed vampires. The wizard vampires now have the same powers as the religious vampires - clans are no longer as distinct or unique.
Mechanically, the new edition offers improvements. All of your dice rolls now depend on "rousing the blood", a system that adds an extra layer of risk to every roll: there is always a chance that you'll over-exert yourself, go temporarily berserk, and screw everything up. The odds of this increases depending on how much lingering thirst you have, and this in turn has the effect of encouraging you, the player, to worry about getting your next fix of blood. This is in contrast with previous versions, where blood drinking gets completely forgotten despite you being, you know, vampires. Players would effortlessly pop off vampiric superpowers like they're part of an edgelord version of The X-Men.
One area the new scheme does fall down in is the difficulty of dice roles in general. This risk, combined with higher requirements for rolling successfully, mean your vampire gang is going to be screwing up far more often than succeeding. I think any prospective Games Master needs to compensate for this, and go easy on the roll requirements.
As a system for new players, V5 is the best choice. The system is about acceptable for old fans of the franchise, though I think that unless they release a bunch more books and lore to thicken up the game, more experienced players will find the "20 year edition" more satisfying.
Also, as a tip, don't glue dried porridge on your face. It gets everywhere.
TabletopGame This is Your Vampire. This is Your Vampire on Blood.
Around this time last year, I was wandering around the streets of Oxford with dried porridge glued to my face. It was all in aid of roleplaying as a hideously deformed vampire, as part of a test of the new fifth edition of Vampire the Masquerade. And although I never get to play Vampire as much as I would like, I've now had enough of this new edition to formulate an opinion on it.
The fifth edition is new player friendly. Character creation is streamlined, and the powers and background information is paired down. So whilst veteran Vampire fans may find this a bit restrictive, having a fraction of the options to pick from, it stops the game becoming overwhelming for new people. This game is over twenty years old, invented within that brief window of time when wrap-around shades and leather trenchcoats were cool. If this game wants to stay cool with the new kids, it needs these updates, just as much as it needs the rule refurbishments to stay accessible. For the most part, I think it manages that balance between satisfying old and new players, though I find the individual clans a tad too simplified to the point that they've lost their individuality; the snake themed vampires now share powers with the wolf themed vampires. The wizard vampires now have the same powers as the religious vampires - clans are no longer as distinct or unique.
Mechanically, the new edition offers improvements. All of your dice rolls now depend on "rousing the blood", a system that adds an extra layer of risk to every roll: there is always a chance that you'll over-exert yourself, go temporarily berserk, and screw everything up. The odds of this increases depending on how much lingering thirst you have, and this in turn has the effect of encouraging you, the player, to worry about getting your next fix of blood. This is in contrast with previous versions, where blood drinking gets completely forgotten despite you being, you know, vampires. Players would effortlessly pop off vampiric superpowers like they're part of an edgelord version of The X-Men.
One area the new scheme does fall down in is the difficulty of dice roles in general. This risk, combined with higher requirements for rolling successfully, mean your vampire gang is going to be screwing up far more often than succeeding. I think any prospective Games Master needs to compensate for this, and go easy on the roll requirements.
As a system for new players, V5 is the best choice. The system is about acceptable for old fans of the franchise, though I think that unless they release a bunch more books and lore to thicken up the game, more experienced players will find the "20 year edition" more satisfying.
Also, as a tip, don't glue dried porridge on your face. It gets everywhere.